


It's Over

by kaleleafs



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Afterlife, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, BAMF Natasha Romanov, BAMF Tony Stark, Canonical Character Death, Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts, I cried when i wrote this, Natasha Romanov Feels, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Natasha Romanov Needs a Hug, Not A Fix-It, Parent Tony Stark, Team as Family, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, but not really, it's still too soon, kind of a happily ever after, major character deaths, team mom natasha romanov, this happened and you can't tell me otherwise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 20:38:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20432096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaleleafs/pseuds/kaleleafs
Summary: "It's finally over. You did it." "No, we did it."





	It's Over

**Author's Note:**

> is it really a spoiler at this point when endgame has been out since april? no it is not

The sun is setting in upstate New York as the last of the rays reflect over the Hudson river. It's calming, sitting on the balcony with her feet tucked underneath her thighs and a mug of hot chocolate in her hands.

The rapidly darkening sky reminds her of the red of a different planet, one far less forgiving than this one. It should send chills down her spine, it should have her mind reeling with nightmares without anyone here to comfort her.

But it doesn't. There are no nightmares here, only peace and calm.

She wonders, of course she does, and she wants more than anything to know if it worked, if she helped. On the other hand, it's really only been a day since her death and most of it she's spent adjusting to her new reality. But time works differently here, and Natasha wouldn't be surprised if it's been even longer. Everything is the same, yet so, so different.

After all, when has there ever been complete silence at Avengers headquarters? Even in the post-snap world there was communication, human life, something to _do_. Here there is nothing, just peace and quiet.

Which is why she jumps when music starts thumping through the compound, the bass shaking the remainder of her hot chocolate and, had the song not been instantly familiar, she'd already be on the defensive.

Instead, she lets AC/DC's "Shoot to Thrill" rinse over her, the break in the calm strangely pleasant and simultaneously dismaying because it can't be, not really, not him and certainly not here.

The volume on the music lessens enough for a voice to break through, smooth and wonderfully, painfully, familiar.

"Agent Romanov... you miss me?"

And she had just seen him yesterday, but here a day feels like a lifetime and she can't stop herself from drinking in the sight of him. As he walks out onto the balcony, she can't help but notice he looks years younger, younger than she's ever seen him look, possibly. There are no worry lines on his handsome face, no familiar glow of the arc reactor, no tiredness at all on his features. He's wearing his long since ruined Black Sabbath t-shirt and jeans; there's no billionaire, genius, philanthropist here— he's just a man completing his last mission and embracing a new journey.

"Tony," she breathes.

"So this is heaven, huh?" He smiles, all white teeth as he makes a show of looking around the compound he knows so well. "So heaven for you is a place I built. Not sure I needed the stroke to my ego."

"Or it could be hell," she counters, still disbelieving because why is Tony here?

"I'd like to think that, after everything we've been through, we deserve a little better than hell."

"Tony-"

"It's okay, Nat." He turns to smile at her though it doesn't quite reach his eyes. He looks pained, hurt, but not regretful. "This was always the way it was meant to end for me."

"I was going to say that I'm sorry," she responds, refolding her legs underneath her as she stares out onto the water. "You were happy, Tony. You had a _family_ and we dragged you back into all of it."

Natasha watches him from the corner of her eye as he sits on the couch next to her. She's sure he can feel her staring but doesn't turn his head from the view as his mouth opens, closes and opens again.

"Remember when I was dying? I asked you if you knew it would be your last birthday, how would you spend it? Do you remember what you said?"

It seems like a dumb question, because of course she remembers. She couldn't stand Tony, not at first, couldn't even imagine him being on a team because she couldn't see past the surface. But she figures the least she can do is indulge him, even if the topic seems to make no sense.

"I told you that I'd do whatever I wanted to do with whoever I wanted to do it with."

"That's how I spent my last five years, Nat. Because I knew I couldn't rest until we reversed the snap, I knew at some point I'd have to give up everything." He shakes his head and runs a hand through the brown strands of hair sending them wild. "I spent the last five years doing what I had always wanted— starting a family, raising a child, taking a break from work— with the one person I wanted to do it with. What more could I ask for?"

"More time?"

He shakes his head again, a wry smile on his lips as he finally meets her eyes. "I shouldn't have made it out of Afghanistan, Nat. I shouldn't have survived the wormhole, shouldn't have made it off Titan unless it was for a reason. This was that reason."

The way he says it so confidently, so sure even in his sadness sends chills down Natasha's spine. They died for billions of people, they died to save the world. To save their _friends_. That's all they can ask for, right? To die for a reason? So many people die for less.

The sun has long since set but neither one of them makes a move to go inside or disturb the comforting blanket of night that surrounds them. Finally, after what seems like a lifetime, Natasha breaks the silence.

"I had nothing, you know?" She closes her eyes and lets her head face back against the chair. "I had nothing until I had this family. I took everything from people when I had nothing, I got more time than I deserve."

"You're wrong." Tony huffs, scooting the tiniest bit closer. "You were the best of us, Nat. The glue that held us all together."

She shakes her head with a sad smile, images of everything they've lost, everything _she's_ lost, filling her thoughts.

"I was never afraid of dying, Tony. At least I know it's finally over. You did it."

"No," he disagrees softly, all fondness as he meets her gaze. "We started it, you and I all those years ago when you saved my life. And we finished it, all of us, together."

His words are kind but Natasha has a hard time believing any of it. Not that she thinks that Tony would lie to her, but because she couldn't have possibly made a difference. Not Natasha Romanov who had more red in her ledger than is salvageable.

"But you saved everyone, right? You made that sacrifice."

"You made the sacrifice the second you exchanged your life for the soul stone, Nat," Tony shrugs as though their lives were just a means to an end in the scheme of things. Maybe there were. "I just finished what we started."

She hums in what could be interpreted as agreement and moves to the couch on the balcony where Tony wordlessly pulls her against him. He wraps one arm around her waist, allowing her to rest her head on his collarbone where neck and shoulder meet. They sit like that for awhile staring off into the darkness, two broken souls finally finding peace in sacrifice.

"So we did it," she whispers again later. "It's finally over."

"No," he smiles and Natasha can feel the words as they rumble through his chest. "It's just beginning."

"Yeah? And what of us, Mr. Stark?" She teases, the familiarity of their friendship a comforting weight on her shoulders. "Are you prepared to spend an eternity here?"

"Well, Ms. Triple Agent," he starts, the words rolling off his tongue in heart-warming sarcasm. "Sometimes you have to run before you can walk. We started something years ago, who's to say we can't do it again?"

And maybe, Natasha thinks, the two of them can finally be at peace knowing that their family is whole, safe and protected back on Earth, and what more can anyone really ask for?


End file.
